Take jury service seriously

Sunday

Aug 18, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Jury service is as fundamental to our democracy as the right to vote

I serve in the position of jury coordinator for the Clerk of Court’s office in Volusia County. I’m concerned about the Wendy’s “jury duty” commercial currently airing on our local TV stations. As I am sure Wendy’s president and CEO, Emil Brolick, and other Wendy’s executives are aware, the public attitude concerning jury service is waning. It seems that our citizens have lost sight of the functioning of our court system. Jury service is as fundamental to our democracy as the right to vote, and is one of the ways American society guarantees the rights of citizens on trial. In other words, people have a right to trial with a jury of their peers. Short of serving in our country’s military, I believe jury service is the next best way to serve this country.Our current “yield” in Volusia County is 30 to 33 percent. This means that 67 to 70 percent of people summoned either request to be excused, defer their service or cannot report for various reasons. Reporting for jury service is not a joke to me. It is a serious matter. In my opinion, the Wendy’s commercial fuels the thought process of “How do I get out of this? Can I claim insanity?”Maybe Wendy’s should consider honoring those people who report for jury duty. Why not give a free hamburger or a nice discount to anyone coming into one of your establishments wearing their juror badge on Mondays? That would be nice.As I said before, I take jury duty seriously and believe, all too often, it is not taken that way by today’s citizens. We should do everything we can to encourage participation. After all, it is our civic duty and we do claim in our country to have the best justice system in the world.Wisniowski lives in Daytona Beach.